I'm not talking about his financial support but do you have faith in his ability to ever get the club back to the Premier league?
I think if he still runs the club indefinitely, yes, we'd get back up at some point. But the problem is we're becoming a club who doesn't 'yoyo' anymore, and I don't want us to somehow end up with a club that is less successful than the one he took ownership of in 1994. Those first 12-14 years cannot be dined out on for another 30. I actually feel sorry for people like Dana Malt who have never seen us be anything other than this.
When Carrick does leave do you have faith in him choosing the right successor? Will it be Warnock or Woodgate again, or Downing, or Steve Agnew? Or will he find another young progressive manager to try and improve on what we've been doing?
Depends what you mean by 'right' successor. I feel that the club's current financial structure makes it difficult for anyone to succeed, hence why none of them are. I don't believe he's just made 10 or 11 terrible appointments in the last 14 years. The next one would follow a similar pattern if recent history tells us anything.
Do you still trust in his decision making? Because everything he seems to touch now goes wrong.
I don't know if he was ever the mastermind people thought he was. He was a young, fearless owner with cash on the hip who'd just wrestled control of his hometown club from the hands of a few dinosaurs (in his perception) and he was willing to put his money where his mouth was to justify himself to those people (and the fans). We should always be thankful for the wonderful era of 1994-2006ish that this mindset brought us.
Since the 2008 credit crunch his financial approach has been very different, which is his prerogative. Most fans would accept a more cautious approach if it meant at least standing still, but over the past 14 years we've slowly allowed the 'yoyo' status to slip further and further away, and are no longer 'standing still'.
I do partly blame my wife for all of this though. When I met her we were an established PL club on our way to another Cup Quarter-final, something that felt like a common occurrence in those days. We thought we'd win more silverware at some stage. She would come with me all over London to away games at Spurs/Chelsea/Arsenal/Fulham etc. Since we met that season, its been a big gradual slide.
My firstborn is to blame for the more recent failures though. He was born the night after we beat Swansea 3-0 at the Riverside to go 14th in the PL. Since then, its just been free-wheeling.